Description

Winifred Mason’s work in jewelry reflected the taste for African-inspired decorative art that developed in the 1920s and ’30s in cosmopolitan settings. An African American female working in a largely white male-dominated trade, Mason broke new ground with her bold designs reminiscent of tribal African adornments. Her work was influential among artisans working in Greenwich Village in New York City, among them jeweler Art Smith, who she mentored and encouraged.